"I hope this is just fake news."
Santa Banana, with the lockdown in Metro Manila and Luzon ending sometime in mid-April, the question is: What happens next? The President himself is on self-quarantine until April 11.
My educated guess is that either the lockdown will be extended, or that there will be a lifting of some restrictions. This is to address public anxiety especially among those who have lost their jobs or those who are dependent on government help.
Considering the fact that the number of confirmed cases, persons under investigation and persons under monitoring has been rising, I believe that the restriction will not be relaxed anytime soon.
That means more sacrifices from the people. More frontliners will be exposed the virus, and more will be infected. This is why I pray that we can find a cure! We all want this pandemic to end.
My wife and I have been staying home even before President Duterte declared a lockdown. I am 92 and my wife is 88. I wonder how those who have a hand-to-mouth existence are getting by. I cannot imagine for how long they can endure the situation, especially since it appears that things will get worse before they get any better.
Santa Banana, the government has to find ways to help those in need!
* * *
At Merville Park Subdivision, where my wife and I live with my daughter Nina, the security guards do not even allow newspaper deliveries and other couriers. But there are more disturbing developments—is it true that POGOs are still operating and that Chinese workers can still freely go in and out of villages—and with police escorts at that?
I have no means of validating this information. I hope this is just fake news. If it is true, it means that POGOs are more privileged than Filipinos, even here in our own country. Is our government allowing this just because of the money that comes in from POGO operations?
There have been suggestions that the government should do mass testing to determine who have been infected. We have been reading about how VIPs are given preferential treatment. My gulay, I have been told that some senators were even tested at home. This takes the cake!
Old habits die hard. Who said that people in the Philippines could ever be equal?
* * *
When I wrote that there is social disparity here in the Philippines, I can only think of how reckless and irresponsible Senator Koko Pimentel was when he went to Makati Medical Center to be with his wife who was about to give birth. He breached protocol. He endangered everybody else in the hospital. While he has apologized, the harm was already done.
Now comes Senator Manny Pacquiao defending Pimentel, saying he cannot be faulted for wanting to be with his wife.
The only thing I can say is, they are two of a kind!
* * *
We see both bad news and good news during this pandemic.
The good news is that in Wuhan City, Hubei province in China, where the virus is said to have originated, there are reports that life is returning to normal. This shows that China has managed to contain the spread of the virus. This was expected since China is an authoritarian country. The people must obey, whether or not they like it.
The return to normal shows that the imposition of draconian measures has its merits.
The bad news is that the United States now has the greatest number of COVID-19 cases. Even Mexico has closed its borders, when before it was the US wanting to close the borders that it shares with Mexico. With this development, the Mexicans could be laughing at the US.
